Explosions in NW China kill 3, injure 2 others

BEIJING — Three explosions shook an ethnic Uighur town in China’s volatile northwestern Xinjiang region on Friday, killing three people and injuring two others, state media said.

The official Xinhua News Agency said two initial blasts in a hair salon and a produce market in Xinhe county in the Aksu region killed one person and injured two others. It said police arrested three suspects after the explosions.

Shortly afterward, a suspicious vehicle exploded as it was surrounded by police, killing two people inside, Xinhua said in a short report.

It said the blasts are under investigation.

Xinjiang is home to a low-intensity insurgency by ethnic minority Uighurs, who have complained of discrimination and religious suppression by China’s majority Han people. The government is cracking down on what it calls terrorism incited by those advocating independence for Uighurs.